A Girl's Best Friend
by Kari Izumi
Summary: Anzu realizes how much she cares for Yuugi Peachshipping, written for a fanfic contest


**A Girl's Best Friend  
**

**By Kari Izumi**

Yet another fic for the YGO Fanfiction Challenge I'm currently in, this time for Peachshipping. Not my favorite pairing in the world, but far easier to write for than Prideshipping, seeing how one didn't try to kill the other and all ;)

Anyway…I own nothing but the fic.

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Anzu's sigh was inaudible over the roar of applause in the audience. Not that she cared much about the standing ovation her dance troupe was receiving at the moment. In vain, she scanned the audience one last time for him, but was disappointed. After all, how many times had he told her victories were meant to be shared with friends?

_Where is Yuugi? He said he'd come…_But she couldn't let herself worry about that at the moment, not in front of the public. After what seemed like forever, he curtain finally closed over the stage when the last of the applause faded, and Anzu went to the dressing room to get changed.

So he hadn't come…Jounouchi and Honda hadn't come, either, but she never expected they would attend. They both worked during the evenings, and for Jounouchi, whose father couldn't take care of himself let alone his son, he couldn't afford to take a day off.

"…a lot of snow out in the streets tonight…" Anzu heard one girl say to another as she stepped into the dressing room.

"I'm glad we got inside when we did. It's freezing!"

She went over to the sink to wet a face towel and wiped the make-up off her face. Anzu hated stage make-up. It was far too thick for her taste. Although, if she were to be honest with herself, she wasn't the type to fuss with her looks usually, anyway.

That was the side people knew best about Anzu; the tomboyish roughhousing type of girl who wasn't afraid to stand up to boys when they were bullying others she cared about. Few people knew of her real desire to become a dancer and go to America as soon as she graduated high school

Yuugi knew.

_And of course, Yami did, too…_

Anzu let out a sigh as she rinsed her face before changing out of the leotard into her street clothes.

It felt so confusing, having such strong feelings for two people…and it was even more complicated when the two people were two halves of the same soul and shared the same body.

At first, Anzu was enamored with Yuugi's darker half. She'd known Yuugi since the first year of grade school, and she had never seen him hurt a fly. He was always so kind to everyone he knew, and ready to protect those he cared about….even risking his neck for Jounouchi and Honda to protect them from a bully when the two had made sport of picking on Yuugi themselves.

But since completing that puzzle, his entire personality would change when he got into a serious duel. And sometimes, Anzu was sure that Yuugi himself grew _taller _when Yami took over, but she couldn't be sure…it was something she merely sensed. At any rate, this new side to Yuugi was exciting. He was so confident and ready to do what needed to be done, at any cost…almost the opposite of Yuugi. Sometimes she liked that.

At other times…she shuddered to think of those "other times." One of those times had resulted in Yuugi losing his soul. It was his choice to save Yami, but it was his need to win that got Yuugi in that situation in the first place. It then, with the thought of ever being able to see her friend Yuugi ever again--having his beautiful caring soul being forever replaced with Yami's--that Anzu could see that she could never, truly care for Yami as deeply as she once thought she might without the compassion from Yuugi.

Yami had been at rest for two years now. Sometimes, Anzu could still see parts of Yami inside of Yuugi, who was still the same caring, gentle person she'd considered her best friend for a long time. But now, he stood up straighter and had more confidence in himself than she could ever remember him having. Yuugi wasn't so afraid to command respect anymore.

Anzu liked it.

Ever since Battle City, Yuugi had been receiving more attention from girls in their class. Most of them had never noticed who he was before, and now that he had been on TV, they couldn't seem to keep away from him. Anzu somewhat suspected some of those girls wanted to date Yuugi just to say they were dating someone famous. Those little twits didn't know the first thing about him.

"You're just jealous, " Jounouchi had told her when she mentioned this to him. Anzu whacked him hard upon the head, and that ended that conversation. Because she wasn't.

A fellow member of her dance troupe called out to her from the doorway, "Anzu-chan! We're going to get something to eat? Want to come?"

Anzu shook her head. "I have to get home soon."

It was a lie. Her parents weren't very strict about such things as curfews. She'd have much rather have spent the rest of the evening with Yuugi.

The girl nodded and closed the door. Anzu packed up the last of her garments and had just zipped up her bag when she heard a knock at the door about thirty seconds later.

"Who could that be?" Anzu wondered out loud to no one in particular. "I'm coming, I'm coming…"

She opened the door, and instantly her mood brightened. "Yuugi!"

So he had come after all! How could she think that Yuugi of all people who let her down? And he was standing there, looking his best in a sharp blue blazer and black slacks. The fact that he was now as tall as she was certainly helped his looks a bit.

"I'm sorry…" Yuugi began, looking a bit upset. "I was on my way here--I even left the house early--but the snow out there slowed down all the trains…"

_Of course! The snow!_

Anzu didn't need to hear any more and she smiled as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's all right, Yuugi. You tried your best. You're here now, aren't you?"

That seemed to comfort him a bit. "Yeah…but I wished I could have seen your performance. I won't be able to see you dance when to go to America after graduation, so I wanted to see as many of your performances while I still can…that sounds a little cheesy, huh?"

These were the things that she loved most about Yuugi--he did his best never to let people down. No matter what, he was true to his word, and so supportive to everyone and their dreams.

Anzu was never more glad for Yuugi's growth spurt when she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt to kiss hi, taking him well by surprised by the muffled gasp she felt on his lips. After all that he'd given to her, it was time to show Yuugi how much he truly meant--and Anzu knew him well enough to know he wouldn't make the first move.

After five seconds, the two pulled away. Yuugi's face was noticeably more than before, but neither party minded.

"Ummm…what was that for?" Yuugi was grinning sheepishly from ear to ear.

"For being you," she replied with an equally wide smile.

Yuugi looked at his watch. "I think we'd have time to get something to eat before the last train departs. You wanna go?"

Anzu nodded. "Sure…I'd like that."

She held her bag in one hand and linked her other around the crook of Yuugi's arm as they headed out the building together.

**Owari :)**

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Any and all feedback is appreciated.


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